The semiconducting silicon chip launched the revolution of electronics and computerisation that has made life in the opening years of the 21st century scarcely recognisable from the start of the last. Silicon integrated circuits ...

An alliance led by IBM Research today announced that it has produced the semiconductor industry's first 7nm (nanometer) node test chips with functioning transistors. The breakthrough, accomplished in partnership with GLOBALFOUNDRIES ...

When the new iPhone came out, customers complained that it could be bent—but what if you could roll up your too big 6 Plus to actually fit in your pocket? That technology might be available sooner than you think, based ...

(Phys.org)—A team of researchers working at the University of Grenoble has developed a new way to cool solids at the micro level. In their paper published in Physical Review Letters, the team describes how they used laser ...

A revolution is coming in flexible electronic technologies as cheaper, more flexible, organic transistors come on the scene to replace expensive, rigid, silicon-based semiconductors, but not enough is known about how bending ...

Researchers at the University of Rochester have shown that defects on an atomically thin semiconductor can produce light-emitting quantum dots. The quantum dots serve as a source of single photons and could be useful for ...

Nanoscale one-dimensional nanostructures (i.e. nanowires) offer vast opportunities in photovoltaics and photonics due to their exceptional optical and electrical properties, which are entirely tunable by varying their architectures. ...

Research into organic semiconductors could lead to more efficient LED TVs and flexible solar cells that are cheaper to make and take less energy to produce according to researchers at the University of Bath.

Semiconductor

A semiconductor is a material that has a resistivity value between that of a conductor and an insulator. The conductivity of a semiconductor material can be varied under an external electrical field. Devices made from semiconductor materials are the foundation of modern electronics, including radio, computers, telephones, and many other devices. Semiconductor devices include the transistor, solar cells, many kinds of diodes including the light-emitting diode, the silicon controlled rectifier, and digital and analog integrated circuits. Solar photovoltaic panels are large semiconductor devices that directly convert light energy into electrical energy. In a metallic conductor, current is carried by the flow of electrons. In semiconductors, current can be carried either by the flow of electrons or by the flow of positively-charged "holes" in the electron structure of the material.

Silicon is used to create most semiconductors commercially. Dozens of other materials are used, including germanium, gallium arsenide, and silicon carbide. A pure semiconductor is often called an “intrinsic” semiconductor. The conductivity, or ability to conduct, of semiconductor material can be drastically changed by adding other elements, called “impurities” to the melted intrinsic material and then allowing the melt to solidify into a new and different crystal. This process is called "doping".